The present invention relates to a defibrillator having an integrated surveillance monitor, on the screen of which vital parameters of a patient can be displayed in the form of a rotatable screen content, having a built in power supply device for power supply independent of the main power supply and having a connection device for the external power supply of the defibrillator.
Defibrillators for external or transthoracic defibrillation form part of the equipment of rescue facilities, such as in particular rescue vehicles, and are thus used in differing practical situations, namely on the one hand directly at the place of application outside the rescue facility and on the other hand during transport of the patient using the rescue facility. That is to say that the defibrillator is removed from the rescue facility upon arrival of the rescue facility at the place of application, in order to be utilized for the treatment of the patient, who is usually lying on the ground. During transport of the patient to the hospital using the rescue facility, the defibrillator is likewise needed; however, for this purpose it is inserted into a special mounting within the rescue facility.
When used outside the rescue facility the defibrillator is powered by means of its own power supply, i.e. preferably an accumulator, while the defibrillator inserted in its mounting within the rescue facility draws its energy from the on-board power supply of the rescue facility; in this case, the accumulator of the defibrillator is at the same time recharged from the on-board power supply.
A defibrillator has a substantially parallelepipedic housing, which, in the course of treatment of a patient outside the rescue facility, rests flat on the ground. Within the rescue facility for reasons of space the defibrillator is inserted "edgewise" into its mounting.
This differing arrangement of the defibrillator in the case of use outside the rescue facility and in the case of use within the rescue facility now gives rise to a shortcoming, and the most widely varying efforts have already been made to eliminate this shortcoming.
As is known, a defibrillator does indeed have a surveillance monitor, on which the vital parameters of a patient are displayed. These vital parameters include at least an electrocardiogram (ECG) and, where appropriate, further quantities in addition. Accordingly, the surveillance monitor provides the physician or paramedic with a report on the success or lack of success of the use of the defibrillator on the patient. Thus, constant observation by the physician or paramedic is of great importance.
As has, however, already been explained hereinabove, the defibrillator is situated in different positions when used outside the rescue facility and when used within the rescue facility; this necessarily also involves different positions of the surveillance monitor, and thus of the screen thereof.
This means that an image which appears in "normal" form on the screen when the defibrillator is used outside the rescue facility may appear in a "vertically inverted" form in the case of use within the rescue facility when the defibrillator is situated in a mounting, since, as a consequence of the different positioning of the defibrillator, the screen has been rotated through 180.degree.. It does not need to be emphasized that the viewing and evaluation of a "vertically inverted" image is extremely laborious for the physician or paramedic.
To overcome this problem, a defibrillator has already been developed, the screen content of which can be rotated by means of the actuation of an operating element. Thus, in addition to the operating elements which are needed for medical reasons, such defibrillators also have a further operating element which has to be actuated and set separately after the defibrillator has been inserted into the mounting within the rescue facility, in order to obtain the signal display on the screen of the surveillance monitor in the accustomed fashion, i.e. "not vertically inverted".
However, precisely when a patient is brought into a rescue facility, the most widely varying necessary actions have to be performed by the physician or paramedic, so that the setting of a separate operating element on the defibrillator to rotate the screen content thereof is perceived as troublesome.